A British man is feared to have drowned after he failed to surface while scuba diving at a holiday resort in Egypt.

Steve Cracknell was having a routine diving lesson with his instructor off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh when the pair went missing and a rescue mission has failed to find them.

Cracknell, 46, from Yeovil, Somerset, is thought to have been on holiday with his wife and their two daughters when he went swimming in the White Knight dive site, a relatively shallow canyon, last Saturday.

Locals have reportedly been searching every day for the pharmaceuticals executive and his instructor, who were diving with a company based at the Savoy Hotel.

A friend of Cracknell, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Telegraph: "I am just holding out hope and don't want to think about the accident. I can't imagine how his wife and daughters are handling this. My heart goes out to them.

"We are hoping for a good resolution, but we know that the longer they are missing the less likely it is that the result will be good."

Shinji Sato, a Japanese dive instructor living in the resort said: "They've still not found the bodies. This kind of thing is incredibly rare. It never happens. Everyone here is very upset. It's so sad."

Cracknell's instructor is understood to be Costantino Di Maria, a veteran diver who has lived in Sharm el-Sheikh for years.

Reports say the plateau which Cracknell was exploring suddenly sheers off into a plummeting mile-deep precipice, and locals have speculated that one of the two men may have encountered problems during the diving session.

Cracknell's family are thought to have returned to the UK.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a British national is currently missing in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. We are liaising with the local authorities and we are providing consular assistance to the family."